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Memo from David Walsh to staff, about vaccination at Mona, Tasmania, 2 September 2021
A society with unlimited rights is incapable of standing to adversity.
—Alexander SolzhenitsynWhat happens when we want to undertake a journey, but a government-mandated intervention delays it, because, they say, it serves the greater good? Is that an infringement on our rights?
I’m talking about traffic lights. Today, while taking the kids to school, I had to wait for a total of six minutes while cars went somewhere else. Of course I could have ignored those dastardly traffic lights, but ignoring them, potentially, has consequences. I might get in trouble with the very authorities that I’m resisting. Is running those lights a legitimate protest? Perhaps I should protest by making things worse (I could stand in the middle of the intersection, at great risk to myself to enhance the risk to others—that’d work). I might kill myself. But I’ve got a fancy car that’ll protect me. Perhaps I should run those lights, window down, arm out, middle finger extended. But if I run those lights, others might suffer. Most times, though, I’ll get through unscathed, and cause no diminishment to others. Am I feeling lucky, punk? And anyway, aren’t we a bunch of self-interested, greed-is-good, motherfucking capitalists? Why should I look after others?
But I stopped at the red lights. So did everybody else. If traffic lights are a part of a global conspiracy to turn us all into pawns of the government, or Bill Gates, or 5G, then I’m a government tool. Or just a tool. And so is everybody else.
I’m going to make vaccination mandatory for staff at Mona. If that makes you see red (lights) despite the previous three paragraphs let me, briefly, talk about the nature of risk. Some types of risk are additive (every time you take a bath, there’s a small chance it’ll kill you: but there is no chance it’ll kill anyone else). When you go to work unvaccinated there’s a small chance you’ll get COVID and an even smaller chance you’ll die. But each time you take that risk there is a small chance you’ll kill someone else (it’s multiplicative). That’s not okay. In a perfect world the vaccine would never kill you (a very small risk, but additive, like a bath), and it’d protect you and others completely. It doesn’t give perfect protection. Sometimes traffic lights fail. But we don’t turn them off. That’d kill more people. We keep them on, because mostly, inefficiently and grudgingly, we serve the greater good.
We’ll give you a decent interval to get vaccinated, and if necessary we’ll help you make an appointment.
We used to have co-leaders who could cruise through amber. One has gone to greener pastures (congrats). Patrick will now be our CEO solo. Ably assisted by Liz and Philippa and hundreds of others… you, if you get vaccinated. Patrick has proved he is very wise—these days, he always stops at red lights.
I wrote the above for the staff of Mona. But Emily, who mediates between me and the media, wanted to release it to everyone. ‘Transparency, and anyway, there’ll be leaks, and that’ll cause confusion.’ So I’m telling everyone that’s interested. At Mona we’ll be mandating COVID vaccinations for staff. Most of Mona’s staff are exposed to the public (although, at the moment, we don’t really have a public). Most people who visit Mona are nice, friendly, and respectful. But there’s a small chance that each of them is a reservoir for that beastly COVID virus. I’d like to mandate vaccines for the public, too, but that’d be unfair to, for example, kids. We like kids at Mona. And we like risk at Mona. But we like our staff more.
A few staff might think we are trampling on their rights, but the one right they think we are restricting doesn’t exist. Our staff don’t have the right to trample on the rights of their colleagues. Yes, it’s harsh to deprive someone of their livelihood for the good of others. And it’s harsh to deprive someone of their licence for running red lights. Harsh, but necessary.
(the only thing that I'd change in the above would be substituting the use of cumulative instead of multiplicative, but I'm not going to hold not using proper math terminology against a man of art)
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday September 02 2021, @07:21AM (3 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday September 02 2021, @08:33AM
Not in Australia, no. And most of as blame our stupid federal govt for this (it was only a couple of days ago that the vaccination for under 40 opened).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday September 02 2021, @08:46AM
With the completely fouled-up vaccination 'strategy' by the Federal Government (lack of supply, bad distribution, bad prioritization..)
and Federal Ministers telling people to wait for Pfizer (and therefore not take the AZ that was available)
and Australia's version of Fox - Sky (which used to used to have same the owner)
and newspapers like "the Daily Telegraph" (aka the Daily Terror)
and FaceBook loonies...
Australia really hasn't been trying to get vaccinated until the most recent outbreak [smh.com.au] started to convince people to get vaccinated - and then it has been really hard to the vaccinations [google.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 02 2021, @04:08PM
I just got my third Phizer shot about a half hour ago. Woo hoo!
In less exciting news I get increased narcotic pain killers. Meh.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @07:36AM (14 children)
This dumbass doesn't know the difference between privileges and rights. Driving is a privilege - check your local DMV and see if it's true. Life free of intrusive searches, seizures, and medical procedures is a right. The hand waving and almost legal mumbo jumbo is just being used to justify the author's fascist approach to life.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday September 02 2021, @08:30AM (11 children)
Waaayyy to miss the point by a mile, tiger. Nobody has the right or the privilege or any form of entitlement to take the life of someone if this can be avoided.
All that car analogy that he used was to put in evidence the type of risks a reckless behaviour raises.
If you feel so strong for the purity of your bodily fluids, you are free to walk away from a workplace that places vaccination as a condition of employment. Or for visiting such a place. When most of such places will do it, you'll probably need to find a forest far enough from others too exercise your principled freedumbs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @11:44AM (10 children)
You don't have a right to not catch a communicable airborne disease like the flu. There's no liability for spreading it. If you don't like it, get vaccinated and stay in your bunker.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday September 02 2021, @11:53AM (4 children)
But we do have a right to not catch communicable airborne diseases. It's called the right to life and right to security of person. And there is liability for deliberate negligence.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @12:05PM (3 children)
You have turbo AIDS. Your next sex partner needs to sign a waiver.
Good luck proving in court that Person A knowingly spread the invisible virus to Person B in the supermarket.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 02 2021, @01:13PM
Oh, so you have the right to behave like Typhoid Mary as long as you don;t get caught, eh?
And you expect others to respect your freedumbs with such a behaviour?
Wow, how ethics, much morals, buy Doge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 02 2021, @01:15PM
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 02 2021, @03:40PM
Criminal transmission of HIV in the United States [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 02 2021, @04:14PM (3 children)
Flu and Covid-19 are not the same thing.
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @12:55AM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday September 03 2021, @02:20AM
I accidentally misread 'bot' as 'not' and it all made sense.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 08 2021, @03:47AM
Yeah, well, there is that little matter of being paid for sick leave...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @01:26AM
You, sir/madame, are a mindless jerk who'll be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
EVERYBODY has the right to not catch a mostly avoidable communicable airborne disease like the flu.
Wilfully ignorant fuckwit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @04:05PM
Do you drive? Do you have a drivers license? If you do, why?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @04:08PM
Do you have a right to a ventilator or it that just a privilege?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Thursday September 02 2021, @08:33AM
Mark Wilsdon has moved to NSW Powerhouse Museum (Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences)
https://www.ausleisure.com.au/news/powerhouse-museum-names-mark-wilsdon-as-new-role-of-chief-operating-officer/ [ausleisure.com.au]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 02 2021, @01:39PM (8 children)
But what about your rights! You are acting like a slave. Don't you realize you are a free man traveling (not driving) on the land? And taking your kids to school is non commercial activity, so you have no need to register your vehicle, have insurance, or obtain a drivers license. You should not have any contracts with the corporation or obey their silly traffic lights. Why do they have traffic lights -- didn't they swear an oath to uphold the constipation?
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Thursday September 02 2021, @01:52PM (1 child)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/02/new-zealand-police-surround-address-after-covid-positive-man-escapes-quarantine [theguardian.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday September 03 2021, @05:30PM
Does New Zealand have a lower rate of covid-19 infections and deaths? Are their ICU's overflowing into the hallways with people dying of covid-19?
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @04:14PM (1 child)
Don't I have the right to decide for myself on what side of the road I drive?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday September 02 2021, @05:36PM
Isn't it a strange thing how civilizations can govern themselves with conventions, rules, and even laws, which are good for everyone, but impose some restrictions in order to have those benefits.
But Moooooooommmmmmm! Whhhhhyyyyy can't I pollute the river with as much toxic sludge as I want?
Why is it that when I hold a stick, everyone begins to look like a pinata?
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @01:03AM (3 children)
> or obey their silly traffic lights.
I've run a number of red lights, on purpose. For example, returning to a rural motel after midnight, after a double work shift. Exhausted after the long day (but not drowsy). The roads were completely empty, good visibility in all directions (no trees, no hills). I rolled that left into the motel parking lot against a red light without even stopping (USA, drive on the right). So if you were a witness, go ahead and sue me.
There are times when it's plainly obvious that I'm smarter than the traffic signal, no matter how "intelligent" the signal controller is meant to be.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 03 2021, @01:36AM (2 children)
The time of writing that post was not, however, one those times.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 04 2021, @03:46PM (1 child)
Well, this was over five years ago, so the statute of limitations applies. I didn't tell anyone before that.
If someone runs a red light in the forest and no one else is there to see it...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 04 2021, @11:04PM
...it's still unacceptably sloppy technique and they should give up driving until you grow up.
Stop giving hoons a bad name.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 02 2021, @07:13PM
Declare the MONA to be an autonomous zone, and burn it to the ground. Then they won't be able to fire anyone, as everyone will lose their jobs.
Whether Mr. Wash is permitted to leave the autonomous zone during this process is an exercise left for the reader.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @03:02PM (1 child)
N/T
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 01 2022, @10:13AM
anonymous +1
Forcing people to submit to a vaccination against COVID to fight SARS-COV2 infection is not only dumb but criminal. It's not your life on the line, it's your soul.